Inline Skating Glossary

ABEC:
Stands for Annular Bearing Engineer Council. The ABEC 1, ABEC 3, ABEC 5 ratings you see for bearings are supposed to be indications that the bearings meet the stated ABEC specifications of a certain precision level. ABEC 5's are supposed to be fastest but there is yet no hard evidence that in real world situations that this is true.

Bearings:
These are those metal things inside the hub of your wheels. There is two per wheel. Inline skates currently use bearings that were already standard in the bearings industry, before inlines were popular. They are "608" bearings, indicating the inner (6mm) & outer diameters (8 mm).

Bearing Spacers:
These are those small parts that go in between your bearings so that the axles can go through your wheels. Most stock spacers are plastic, some may be metal. Hop-up kits provide metal ones. Some spacers may also be threaded (so that axles screw directly into the spacers instead of just passing through).

Crossovers:
Skating crossovers is simply skating along a curved path while still stroking. To do this, you have to cross the outer skate over the other one & hence the term "crossover". Done properly, a crossover will not only let you maintain your speed going into the turn, but also let you increase it to an extent. The turns that ice speed skaters do during the Olympics are all crossover turns. Figure skaters will often do backward crossovers during their routines & hockey players do a variety of both during games.

Durometer:
Durometer is an industry hardness rating for polyurethane, which is the primary wheel material. Ratings such as 78A or 85A are usually seen on wheels. The higher the rating the harder the wheel. 100 is the highest (although no skaters probably go beyond 92 or 95).

Frame Spacers:
These are those small parts on your skates that go between your wheels & the runners. Many skates have eccentric, oval shaped frame spacers so that you can flip them 180 degrees to rocker your skates.

Grind Plates:
These are flat metal or hard plastic plates that are bolted on to runners for grinding & rail slides so that the original runners will not get shredded to pieces.

Hop-up Kits:
Hop-up kits are simply upgrade kits that include frame spacers, bearing spacers & axels. They are made of aluminium or brass or some other metal. Some incorporate threaded spacers too. The advantage in using hop-up kits is that you can crank down real hard on your wheels without compressing the spacers. The stock plastic spacers on most skates will compress or even crack if you do this a lot.

Monocoque:
This means the entire skate (boot & runners) is manufactured in one solid piece. This can produce a lot more stiffness in the skate, which may or may not be good, depending on your skating style & purpose.

Road Rash:
Any scrapes, gashes or other injuries incurred from wiping out & sliding on pavement.

Rockering:
Rockering your skate means to arrange the wheel heights to approximate a curved (ice skate) blade. Normally this is done by raising the front & rear wheels slightly by flipping the frame spacers, or by lower the middle two wheels, or by doing both. Rocker provides for much more responsive turning at the cost of some stability.

Stair Riding:
This is a common skating stunt where you literally ride down a set of steps. It is bumpy, but with the proper stance & balance it is pretty fun. Always use protective gear when doing this!

Wheel Rotation:
Polyurethane wheels eventually wear down, but you can often extend the life of your wheels by flipping or rotating your wheels amongst themselves so that you can skate on the less worn areas of your wheels.